September 2008 -- Nancy and I bicycled from Washington, D.C., to Pittsburgh, following the C&O Canal towpath and the Great Allegheny Passage rail-trail. We were with an Adventure Cycling Association supported group of about fifty riders; I wrote a feature story about the experience that appeared in the March 2009 Adventure Cyclist magazine.

Christmas 2008 -- We spent it with my brother and family in the Denver area; highlights included a Denver Broncos game (they lost to the Buffalo Bills) and a rousing and very enjoyable performance of Jersey Boys at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

May 2009 -- We rented a house near Gold Beach, Oregon, for a week late in the month. Relaxation, riding, research, and reading.

June 2009 -- The family rallied in Boone, Iowa, to move our 92-year-old mother from there, where she'd been living independently in her own home, to a retirement home in the Denver area.